Gyeonggi-do and Other Metropolitan Governments Strongly Oppose Mandatory Support for Local Sports Council Operating Expenses

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Seventeen metropolitan governments, including Gyeonggi Province, are strongly opposing the "Partial Amendment to the National Sports Promotion Act," which mandates local governments to obligatorily support the operating expenses of local sports councils. They argue that this could restrict the fundamental principles of local autonomy, potentially conflict with the Local Finance Act and the Local Subsidy Act, and raise fairness issues regarding support for other organizations.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 2nd, after the amendment bill to the National Sports Promotion Act, which revised the provision from "local governments may subsidize" to "must support" the operating expenses of local sports councils, passed the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee in the National Assembly last March, the province submitted an opposition statement to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the 12th of last month. Subsequently, on the 26th of the same month, an opposition statement signed by 17 metropolitan governments nationwide, including Gyeonggi Province, was delivered to the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee.

The 17 metropolitan governments, including Gyeonggi Province, oppose the amendment bill to the National Sports Promotion Act for three main reasons.

First, the metropolitan governments are concerned that if this amendment passes, the fundamental principle of local autonomy could be restricted.

A Gyeonggi Province official stated, "Local governments have the authority to autonomously allocate and grant subsidies related to their jurisdictional duties. If this principle is overturned and operating expense support for a specific organization is changed into a legal obligation, the autonomy of local finances will be restricted, and the fundamental purpose of the subsidy system could be undermined."

Another concern of the metropolitan governments is the potential conflict with the Local Finance Act and the Local Subsidy Act.

Currently, the Local Finance Act and the Local Subsidy Act include provisions for canceling subsidy grant decisions and excluding subsidy projects. If the support for local sports councils' operating expenses becomes a mandatory provision, it could conflict with regulations on returns and sanctions in cases of subsidy ineligibility, severely limiting the control and management of local subsidies for sports councils, according to the metropolitan governments. This could undermine the legislative intent of the "Act on Local Subsidies," which aims for transparent and proper management of local subsidy budgets.

Moreover, the metropolitan governments foresee inevitable fairness controversies with other organizations if the amendment is implemented.

Currently, support for operating expenses of all corporate organizations, including those in culture and tourism as well as sports, is discretionary. Support for organizations such as the Korea Freedom Federation or the Saemaul Undong organizations, under individual laws for fostering corporate organizations, is also discretionary. Subsidies granted by metropolitan local governments to basic local governments are likewise discretionary.

In this context, if only local sports councils are mandated to receive operating expense support, issues of fairness with other corporate organizations in various fields and other sports organizations will inevitably arise. There are also concerns about preferential treatment for specific organizations.

A Gyeonggi Province official expressed concern, saying, "If a legislative precedent is set that conflicts with Article 122 of the Local Autonomy Act and Article 17 of the Local Finance Act (as in the amendment to the National Sports Promotion Act), various interest groups will frequently demand that local government resources be compulsorily regulated."

Furthermore, they argued, "It is necessary to halt the National Assembly's deliberation on the 'Partial Amendment to the National Sports Promotion Act,' which could undermine the fundamental principles of local autonomy and restrict the autonomy of local finances, and it is appropriate to maintain the current law that grants autonomy to local governments."

The amendment bill is scheduled for review by the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee in mid-June. Accordingly, the province plans to visit the committee in early June to submit and explain a statement outlining the problems with the amendment bill.

Earlier, on March 17, Representative Lee Yong and 10 others proposed an amendment to Article 18, Paragraph 3 (Subsidies to Local Governments and Schools) of the National Sports Promotion Act, changing the support for operating expenses of local sports councils from a discretionary provision to a mandatory one.

The lawmakers participating in this amendment proposal include Jeong Hee-yong, Kim Do-eup, Kim Tae-heum, Kim Jeong-jae, Kim Seong-won, Shin Won-sik, Ji Seong-ho, Yoo Ui-dong, Bae Jun-young, and Yoon Doo-hyun.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.